Mystery Spacecraft Performs First-Ever Automated Landing for U.S.

After seven months in space, an unmanned experimental spacecraft launched by the U.S. Air Force returned to Earth today. The event marks the first time a spacecraft has successfully landed completely on its own.

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After seven months in space, an unmanned experimental spacecraft launched by the U.S. Air Force returned to Earth today. The event marks the first time in the history of the U.S. space program that a spacecraft has successfully landed completely on its own.

The robot craft, called the X-37B, initially took off April 22 from Cape Canaveral tethered to an Atlas 5 rocket. It landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 1:16 a.m. local time this morning.

The vehicle touched down using its autopilot, making it the first craft ever in the U.S. space program to land on a runway completely autonomously. The Soviet space program's Buran craft was the first in the world to do so, in 1988.

The X-37B is an experimental space plane whose purpose the military has not yet revealed. Although its design is similar to the space shuttle's, it measures only 30 feet long. By comparison, the space shuttle orbiter is over 120 feet long. While in orbit, the craft can deploy solar panels to provide power.

Also like the bigger shuttle, the X-37B has a cargo bay, though whether or not anything was inside it for this mission is unknown. The primary purpose of the journey was to test the craft itself, Air Force reps told the AP.

The craft apparently passed that test, with meeting all "on-orbit objectives," the report said. The X-37B is expected to return to space in spring 2011.